And then they said, "Let there be wine !"

So why all of the hoopla over a bunch of fermented grapes anyway? Interestingly enough, the first wine makers were from Egypt actually. These guys taught the Thracians/Greeks to make wine and the Romans jumped in and really refined the wine making process. Finally wine was made in regions that could grow great wine grapes - the popularity of wine was astounding and the Romans became burdoned with the heavy task of making sure there was enough wine for everybody. When the Roman Empire was growing as fast as my nephew (Brent) the production of wine was keeping pace with a hearty demand that was approximately one half liter per person (including children). Wine was one of the most prevelant influneces in the Roman's social environment. It seems that old Bacco (Dionysus) are going to be busy for a looooong time.

To decant or not to decant?

I don't know all of the "whys", but people decant wine for many reasons. Generally I have noted that people will decant just about anything if it is old. The two most amusing reasons I have seen for decanting wine has been to impress a date or simply to mask a cheap wine. It is way of making a wine seem "extra special". Ahem! Not that I have ever partaken in such an activity but I did decant a 1963 Taylor Reserve Port one time - I had no idea how "chunky" a wine could get. Ok, so maybe I also decanted a bottle of MadDog - I don't quite recall, but, moving right along...

One of the purposes for decanting a wine is to mix it with a little oxgen to ready and wake the wine up (most wine geeks refer to this process as aerating). But, there's more. If you see sediment in your wine you might want to decant it so that you can filter the sedimen stuff out. Also, don't forget about that "special" sediment called "cork" - we have all been there; the cork falls apart and there are tons of cork chips floating in the wine ~ nothing like a little extra sediment - decant the wine with a filter. So, long story short, (legit reasons) decant the older wines to bring out the color, clean up the sediment and lively up the flavours; decant the young'uns when you want to soften the tannens, tame down the oak, filter the sediment and speed up the oxygenation process.

Interested in high end, custom and carefully hand selected wine gifts / wine baskets?

To decant or not to decant?

I don't know all of the "whys", but people decant wine for many reasons. Generally I have noted that people will decant just about anything if it is old. The two most amusing reasons I have seen for decanting wine has been to impress a date or simply to mask a cheap wine. It is way of making a wine seem "extra special". Ahem! Not that I have ever partaken in such an activity but I did decant a 1963 Taylor Reserve Port one time - I had no idea how "chunky" a wine could get. Ok, so maybe I also decanted a bottle of MadDog - I don't quite recall, but, moving right along...

One of the purposes for decanting a wine is to mix it with a little oxgen to ready and wake the wine up (most wine geeks refer to this process as aerating). But, there's more. If you see sediment in your wine you might want to decant it so that you can filter the sedimen stuff out. Also, don't forget about that "special" sediment called "cork" - we have all been there; the cork falls apart and there are tons of cork chips floating in the wine ~ nothing like a little extra sediment - decant the wine with a filter. So, long story short, (legit reasons) decant the older wines to bring out the color, clean up the sediment and lively up the flavours; decant the young'uns when you want to soften the tannens, tame down the oak, filter the sediment and speed up the oxygenation process.